Forum; Unity '94: Vision of Activism

from the longhorn radio network the university of texas at austin this is for him today there goes to be concerned about issues that did not specifically and uniquely and so you relate to be independent of the island of puerto rico geraldo rivera television journalist and a lawyer they called for the young lords that a march on the united nations and i remember walking down lexington avenue toward united nations and you got to that hill on a hundred and six street in spanish harlem and i look back and from one hundred and sixty back past one hundred and twenty fifth street as far uptown as the eye could see there were people marching shoulder to shoulder people the black people and white people in it certainly all of the latino and puerto rican community which earned that everybody was there it was a mass of humanity marching with

a common goal to help alleviate some of the misery of the people in that community and i wonder ladies and gentlemen if we asked for that same parade today instead of the twenty five or fifty thousand people odd that responded in the year to their client call and it in a way to put their bodies on the line to demonstrate their solidarity and demonstrate their call for compassion and equality i wonder if you call for that parade tomorrow when you get five hundred people instead of a thousand people or one today

the joint annual meeting of the national association of black journalists the national association of hispanic journalists the asian american journalist association and the native american troops association in atlanta at the georgia world congress center the session titled voices from the past lessons for the future was moderated by geraldo rivera and sponsored by time inc it served as a showcase for minority activists representatives whose credentials were well known to the audience of journalists who had covered their stories in the last twenty to thirty years the first to speak was the reverend al sharpton the director of the ministers division of the national rainbow coalition and founder of new york's national action network curley a candidate for the democratic nomination for the united states senate reverend sharpton defends his decision to participate in the electoral process well they go out not a bad role in fact we just hadn't watched as we were we will give the all president

richard watson yankees to lose that i think that what you don't know in your day you find ways to effectively pro about up to a position of try to just be angry and it affected is to rob roser to try and to become just a rage free rather than a socialist we in atlanta with a cane movement's top not only became watch this movement was successful because people on his staff and the un came and it says jesse jackson ran for president so we have not only that i had a button that night we get the ability to take an anger and get results are quite that remains the industry's but we also need to be in the suites wear this so many reasons that we need to mobilize the

streets we should not say that will only one of the industry's and concede also while to those that are reactionary and those i would not resign just as we must have the ability to have those that have fought the battles on to be also some of those that go into positions of power to achieve changes another panel member dolores huerta was the co founder along with cesar chavez of the united farm workers union she is also the first latina inducted in the women's hall of fame she responds to the question has the farm workers union failed allow the national media ignored it and just had another large the sacramento i'm just celebrating his life with birds and we had lived in and feed on the national media ignored we had over twenty thousand people it's a capital in california governor wilson

immigrants we had access washington state let's hear it that system on protections for the workers the families are in mexico so we actually have the great white hot like what we have now is the likes to get her thigh and then like it

is now like a lot of highways the united nations london we've been able to win major legislative requirement like an insurance and workers' compensation in california and in texas and that number of working with ace in florida so we're very very strong organization and i think that i'll also led by activists considered it because i think in this country is to heal along you'll want to start with the conquest of the americas and that's what we're trying to do and trying to bring the respect of the majority the white majority to the people who do that work like the markets will lead the nation everyday that are now the victims of the

attacks when ella duke is director of the white earth land recovery project at the white earth reservation in minnesota seem to be talk show host of the upcoming native america calling she addressed current news images of the native american have the goals changed well let's start with this no that's not where most of the indian country is on when people think of india as a lot of times they do think of gambling in casinos because that's what the media is interested it is frankly about time that unions did get something that would like to see a little more to come on that but the fact is is that most indian communities still remain in what we call a predator prey relationships the united states the fact is is that we are communities that remain as islands in north america or in the rest of the world the indigenous peoples who have where that is a natural resource that is i guess it's that is who we are that is a spirituality and that is where the resources for an industrial society continue to originate mr lance whether it is the rainy weather this fall whether it is natural gas and whether it is

the genes they got electric power plants in northern quebec on preventing mr nance so our struggles are very much the same struggles as they have been for centuries the struggles of people to retain our math to retain our ability to control our destiny and we've never compromised those struggles in the least and we do not intend to it is exactly in the same place and we will continue the struggles because i would say frankly that the only reason that i'm here today is because like ancestors resisted that is that fear introduced the next commentator one figure own president and general counsel of the puerto rican legal defense and education fund and former member of the connecticut state legislature when i helped to found the puerto rican legal defense and education fund we were convinced that it would emerge into a potent civil rights organization that would equalize opportunities for hispanics specifically that was our initial mandate isn't wheat since broadened

now however what we are confronted with is a malignant spread from coast to coast of something called the english only movement a movement that seeks to outlaw all efforts are bilingual education and including spanish language on balance our weezer losing battle without losing the battle but we have a lot of work to end and let me just start by by saying you know that the video that we just saw it's a very powerful tool to bridge the gap between those who are working today in the trenches and those of you who were they are many years ago that fighting these battles and i say this because it's particularly relevant to this gathering here today of people in the media that we need to bring that information for today so that the people who we're fighting in the trenches that they have the connection because as su

was suggested at the very beginning if you recall for the meeting that he called on lexington avenue today you're getting less than a hundred people however that does not mean that there are not people fighting in the trenches and that that debt as a result of this movement there are folks who are out there who can galvanize end this is where the media piece comes into my head we need to get this information out to our communities and what is the information that we need to get out or communities it is that we're not just about finding drugs and violence it is about that we have people about the subtleties of a bargain dr successes and our success is not as defined by people from the outside but success is as they are defined by people in our own community and what's the best way to accomplish that well the sea of people that you have here are a good place to start with but you can't stop here and the institutions

that represent these media outlets need to have more more people of color and i would suggest they have an affirmative obligation that would not just with with the personnel but with coverage now out of this one show i just want to one quick thing here it's just on the plane down on monday on an airplane down from from your why talk about affirmative obligation to two to show what we're all about to be on a crime and drugs this is a picture of the list a bigger hearing that idea in congress on the whitewater matter is that there are several commercial folks the caption identifies to commercial people who want him in the back the person who is most directly in your view is congressman luis gutierrez from chicago now in the caption they identify the two congressional thoughts about neither one of which had anything to do

with the story of a not mention the story we have been invisible folks we have been invisible and this is the reason why we're invisible the next panelist to respond to moderator geraldo rivera was stored quo president and executive director of the asian pacific american legal office in southern california still it's always saw an eight minute video be brutal relocation of asian americans united states citizens from the west coast is what happened in nineteen forty one two three four and five really still very different than all the japan bashing yellow peril stories that were written michael clayton another is leading the charge in recent years when we as asian pacific americans talk about how we're doing now are oftentimes you don't get national

media exposure for the problems that japan bashing then occasion movement growing throughout the country ah but i must tell one story that affected me personally i called a friend over a united way on an immigration issue a few months ago and she said she wasn't there but her secretary came back a little later and a when my friend came back and senator ran him and said you've got to return the scholars from mr stewart the radio station kwh and maybe that's the only way that we can get and maybe that's the only way that we can get media attention to the problems that we face in our community in nineteen eighty eight the civil liberties act provided we just and reparations for japanese americans were interned i think the national question after that in some asian

americans thought about this to have asian americans made it are we now the model minority my answer is a resounding no and yes it's true asian pacific families have a high family income but it's also to most of the family members work many asian pacific americans are creating greater family income yes it's true but it's also true that for example in los angeles the ethnic groups that have the highest welfare dependency are asian pacific american so this model minority is becoming a mayor and we see it in the media are very starkly on the one hand we see stereotypes and there's a merchant who's a nation was a problem they become a korean merchant that as early this compound now in the dictionary every time now that there's a refugee and asian organ the chinese refuge on welfare all of them are misusing welfare and the invisibility when we strive to sew through the national asian pacific

american legal consortium that over three hundred people have been brutalized last year alone including twenty deaths violence is causing in particular didn't even give it a lie so what we're seeing is that this type of model minority myth is being perpetuated but the thing i wanna raise finally is that for us to raise these issues for us to tell the nation what is really happening in our communities i don't think there's enough in the nineteen nineties all of us have to go beyond being concerned about what's happening in their own ethnic communities especially in the media to going to the point of how is the internet that dynamic being covered because for asian pacific americans many times is the author about thirty other minorities saying look at them they made it just do what they've done and that could be the most challenging thing and the united states are one minority group to be pitted against another

panelist fermin belcourt of the chippewa nation is a national representative of the american indian movement and a member of the national coalition on racism in sports and the media the question to him was similar to the one posed to winona laduke or native americans embarrassed by images of casinos compared to the images of wounded knee i remember covering wanted me in going back to wounded knee and i remember the starkness of the reservations in the dakotas and how melancholy and desperate they were but i also have a lingering image from that time it was a native american warrior on imports he was portrayed against the rage and he was everything iraq and noble contrast that image with the year or does it not the foxtrot the ceo of the software consulates pacino in connecticut now the worlds large are

you embarrassed by the new direction are you and that's why this use of indian sovereignty to evade the gaming laws in the other sovereign states i will on a mission of eight and you know everybody do one in any industry because i first greek value although and all the friends and relatives nearby and the language of the amish in audio of the chippewa and to tell them that we extend our warmest greetings and that my real name is what won in any i'm better known by my missionary colonial name as bernie doll or we often extend the readings in our language because we want people than all that we are still a living people a living culture that goes back to time immemorial in response to a question of

course are brewing would it be richard of course who is one of the founders of the original native american press association we've seen that organization broke today to what it is that through the work and commitment of people like that who were in the original and continue our movement to me he wrote something like this things will never be the same again and that's what the american indian movement is all about they are respected by many they are aided by some but they are never ignored they are the catalyst for indians are you and so our movement which really began at a time in history and about forty ninety two when this colonial pirate columbus topical hour as long this struggle in these lands signature lines not all the americas' of many struggles and of course our struggle of the american indian movement was to bring about empowerment to bring

about the recognition of our god given inherent sovereign rights rights that are given to us by the great spirit they're not be legislated by congress of the united states or a state or a county north and these rites be extinguished by this government right now on themselves and i want you and so as they struggled in the streets in the late sixties early seventies when he struggled at wounded knee when we marched for quality education healthcare the recognition of our treaty rights are sovereign rights are spiritual rights we write about a new consciousness among our people across this country and that is when we raise the issue of sovereignty an ad that nobody i don't think that many of our people truly understood our real relationship what it should be with federal government still had an arm and we see a lot of our people not a political party economic are a similar have seen the need to bring about an infusion of

capital into a very depressed economy poverty breeds this their frustrations are the breeds opened all battery fire crews of chemical abuse we're celebrating our school suicide rates they say march over these are the important issues that faces and five percent today it's ironic that we would have to challenge first of all some of america's sacred cows like columbus day we've got the sake of the world we are letting people are living culture released ao studios that are demeaning degrading way umass boston sports and the type of imagery that hollywood still gives us only say one final say when we asked for the atlanta braves to change her and a badger gives us more that movie is not to say that some of our great artists that they are in those movies that were still getting this aid that storyline like you is

early it's like any assault all of us and it should be installed a lot of perpetuating it at all the american people you're a cutie how much was an internee during world war two a civil rights activist in harlem in the sixties you have been a woman who has expanded her own blood sweat and two years to improve the quality of life in your community you're also fighting to frame what you call political prisoners being held not in taiwanese or chinese or korean or lebanese or south american prisons but rather an american prisons do you think that this audience many of them in their twenties can relate to an expression like political prisoners especially as it relates to our own country what i would say that kind of the one of the

one of the most important people in north america or what he has done for the struggle here is malcolm x and he was not mentioned ms whitman because he's like humanity has been a target of the fbi and the us government is in a prison in pennsylvania and he is the only one of the prisoners who is on death row and every one of you here what do whatever you can to support you but what it says with the support of the us government that there is no political prisoners i mean some people like it and

the end of the la twenty twenty five years on the puerto rican independence people are doing the heaviest time and some of them involve a hundred years because they would not recognize it was sport than white political prisoners that anti imperialist and they are doing as heavy time but many people of color there is one occasion he is not an invasion that you know ian present only going to worship or are you i counted twenty eight chinese national imprisoned in art in new york and playing we hope they're looking in the papers were articles about them people like you maybe the

late nineteen fifties and early nineteen fifties when a people of color media have gotten and got an exposure i hope that each one of you here on this than that to be a media person today is not only to have all the requisite of a good writer but that you must be able to relate to your own community is the one that we can all relate and we can work together well i think this particular event unity ninety four is the most wonderful kind of thing that's happening and i sang oh oh oh

oh oh oh a ninety four meeting in atlanta hawks the annual meetings of the national association of black journalists and national association of hispanic journalists the asian american journalists association and the native american journalists association entitled voices from the past lessons for the future today's session was sponsored by time inc participants on the panel included moderator geraldo rivera reverend al sharpton director of the ministers division of the national rainbow coalition and the founder of new york's national action network dolores huerta co founder and first vice president of the united farm workers union community activist yuri cookie aisle stuart quo president and executive director of the asian pacific american legal officer in southern california were normal at

duke director of the white earth land recovery project at the white earth reservation in minnesota and talk show host of the upcoming native america calling one figure our president and general counsel of the puerto rican legal defense and education fund and a former member of the connecticut state legislature and vernon belcourt national representative of the american indian movement and the national coalition on racism in sports and media the views expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect the views of the university of texas at austin or this station technical producer for foreign could harbor oil production assistant donna hoffman i'm a producer and host olive gray is this cassette copy writing for so long radio network

communication to the ut austin austin texas seventy seven one to matt's four and assess longhorn radio communication during the ut austin austin texas seventy seven one stephanie telecommunication services university of texas at austin this is the longhorn radio network it's b to get to this community ninety four the young lords were significant because they at that time with a very hispanic or certainly puerto rican group ever to be concerned about issues that did not specifically and uniquely and so he relates to be independent of the island of puerto rico

voices from the past lessons from the future this week on four